When They First Met
by flowerfaerie17
Summary: Just a conversation between the team. I think it's worth the 5 minutes it will take to read. A couple of swears.


"I bet you've had your fair share of rescue missions, sir." Ford said after finishing telling his story of a particularly dramatic rescue to Teyla, Sheppard and Mckay over dinner in the near empty mess hall.

"More than that Ford." Sheppard said before slapping Mckay's hand away from his fries, well what passed for fries.

"I would like to hear of one of these rescue missions." Teyla said eager to learn more about her earth friends pasts.

"Right... well I suppose I could tell do that."Sheppard said watching as Teyla smiled at him to continue. "I was ordered to lead a group into a warehouse just outside of Russia. It was completely need to know, we weren't even told who they had hostage only that he was a civilian and we were to get him know how that is Ford."

"Yes sir." Ford said as Mckay began shoving his food around his plate.

"Well anyway, we go in and take out the hostiles, but we don't see the target. We start searching the warehouse and that's when I find the box." Sheppard said as Mckay shuddered a little.

"The box?" Teyla asked with a feeling of unease.

"It wasn't much bigger then a coffin, it a few air holes but they kept the room dark so no light could get in through them and it had a tube leading to an empty cup, assumed it was for water when they bothered to give him any." Sheppard said taking another bite of his food before continuing "One of my men opened the box and got punched in the face ." He couldn't help but chuckle "This guy had been tortured for 6 days and he still managed to put up a fight. I went over to the poor bastard to try and calm him. His face was so badly bruise and swollen he could barely open even one eye, he had cuts and bruises all over his arms, back and chest. It also looked like they had shaved his hair off."

Everyones attention was on Sheppard at this point so they didn't notice how pale Mckay had gotten.

"Anyway I managed to calm him down enough to get him out of there, he wouldn't let anyone but me touch him for some reason. We got him back to base and he was air lifted out to a secure hospital." Sheppard finished.

"That poor man." Teyla said with tears in her eyes.

"Bet he was screwed up in the head after that." Ford said shaking his head and getting back to his food. "Probably in a padded room somewhere."

"I do sometimes wonder that happened to him." Sheppard admitted quietly.

Mckay decided to speak up for the first time throughout the conversation "He's was just fine once the military stopped asking what he told was absolutely fuck all. The nightmares faded and his hair grew back. He was left with a few scars and claustrophobia and." He shot a glare at a stunned looking Ford " I never needed a padded room."

Sheppard was the first to recover from this utter and complete shock " That was you?"

"It's that what I just said." He snapped "I was hoping that you would never bring up that particular mission but oh no you just had to share didn't you."

"You remembered him!" Ford said surprised at the same time Sheppard exclaimed "You knew who I was!?"

"Of course I remembered him! he was the first person in nearly a week who didn't try or want to hurt me." He coughed and averted his eyes from them for a moment before snapping back to his usual self " And who could forget the hair that defys the laws of physics." He said with a vague wave at Sheppards head.

"Why did you not tell him that it was you he had rescued?" Teyla asked putting a comforting hand on his arm.

"There was no need. I didn't want him to see me as that weak pathetic wreck but that's gone out the window now." Mckay said looking away again feeling shame at the very memory of it.

"Mckay." Sheppard waited until Mckay was looking at him before continuing " The guy I found in the box was not weak or pathetic and neither in the man sitting here with me now."

Mckay looked at him shocked while Ford and Teyla nodded there agreement.

"Mckay after days of torture and being locked in the dark, you still gathered enough strength to break one of my guys noses. Your stronger then most of the idiots out there realise and I'm not just talking about the punch."Sheppard said sincerely.

"I believe Sheppard is correct. One of the first things you did after travelling to a strange new galaxy was save the city and everyone in it." Teyla said before Ford added "And the second thing was save our asses when the jumper got stuck in the gate."

"So Mckay I don't think anyone here will ever see you as weak or pathetic."Sheppard said while Teyla smiled at Mckay as Ford nodded again before starting on his food again.

Mckay shifted in his chair before mumbling "Thanks" He then cleared his throat and said "If we're done with all this touchy feely crap, can we talk about something else?."

Sheppard sighed in relief "Absolutely." while Teyla patted Mckays arm one last time before letting go.

Ford smiled and said "What do you prefer to spread on your toast?"

A/N I blame this on me day dreaming on the train and I know it's not a good ending but I prefer to leave it open just in case I wanna come back to it.


End file.
